Attack of the BodySnatcher
by TheSanguinor
Summary: While answering a strange call, Shepherd and his team encounter a young man with a strange ability.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Colonel John Sheppard stepped out of the event horizon of the stargate into daylight and the sound of birds, savoring the brief moment of silence from Rodney's talking. He mostly ignored Dr. McKay's constant yammering, unless, of course, it had to do with him.

The moment passed.

"…because it's just not sanely right!" Rodney was saying. "Why would anyone in their right minds would even THINK of going on a trip like that when they're 10 years old! I could list at least a hundred reasons why that would…" Rodney stopped. Sheppard didn't have to turn to know that Ronan was staring McKay down. John allowed himself a brief grin, and then turned.

"Ok boys, play nice now." John turned to the other members of his team. Teyla, Dr. Keller, and Dr. Beckett were just stepping out of the gate, conversing with each other. The gate shut off.

The call that they had gotten from this planet the previous night had been one of the strangest they had gotten. And that was saying a lot considering past missions out in the Pegasus Galaxy. The townspeople had requested assistance with what they called a "Rahn-tuu." From what Teyla had explained later, it meant something like "Body-switcher." Most of the other teams were out on missions of their own, so Woolsey sent them. The Wraith had been strangely quiet as of late, John was bored out of his skull, and taking the mission seemed like a good way to break the boredom. Dr. Carson Beckett was very interested in the call because he thought it might have something to do with Michael's experiments. And Dr. Keller came because she wanted to check up on a patient on that planet.

"Let's get to the village and see what this mess is all about," John said. "Teyla, you go with Keller to check on that little girl. Beckett, you're with me, Rodney, and Ronan. I want whatever this is cleared up before nightfall."

"We will see you then, John," Teyla said. Then she and Keller walked off into the woods.

Rodney and Ronan were still looking at each other.

"Aaaaaaaannnyway," Rodney said, tearing his eyes away. "I don't really have to go on, do I? I mean, it's probably just another wild goose chase. Michael's dead! And I very much doubt that it's a new experiment we haven't discovered yet. Since it's obviously nothing then I could just head back to Atlantis."

"Aw, come on, Rodney," John said. "If it wasn't for this call you'd just be spending all day in bed or something. You need exercise."

"Actually, lying in bed doing nothing sounds like the best thing in the world right now," Rodney said in a huff. "I really don't see the need for my being here."

"Just can it, Rodney," Beckett said. "The longer you stand here talkin' the longer this is going to take."

"Easy for you to say, Carson, but I'm not the kind of guy who just goes off on missions when he could very easily be spending a nice day with a good book and a cup of coffee in bed."

Ronan cracked a smile. "I never thought you were the reading type."

"Well I am…. now," Rodney said.

John sighed. "Let's get moving."

After they had walked for about fifteen minutes, John heard something up ahead. He motioned for the group to stop.

Ronan stepped up next to him. "What?"

"I thought I heard something," John said.

The group stood still. Then they all jumped as a sudden shouting rose up in the distance.

Sheppard and Ronan ran towards the sound followed closely by Rodney and Beckett. They stopped at the tree line and saw a group of people armed with farm tools chasing a teenage boy towards the trees.

"What's this all about?" Rodney said.

As the group neared, the armed people started shouting at the Atlantians.

"What are they saying?" said Beckett.

Ronan cocked his head. "They're telling us to get out of the way. Weird."

The boy looked up and saw them. Suddenly, he veered right for them, running even faster.

Ronan whipped his gun up. "Should I stun him?"

"Wait," John pushed Ronan's arm down. "Let's catch him and see what's going on."

The boy continued his frantic run towards them, and John could see that Ronan was getting antsy.

"Get ready," John said.

The boy ran the last few feet to them, and John lunged. The villagers screamed, "NO!" The boy stopped dead, his long red hair flying around his face. John flew in front of him, and then the boy leapt, slamming into Dr. Beckett. Both collapsed to the ground, motionless.

John heaved himself up just as the villagers arrived, all of them breathing heavily.

"You…fools!" One man shouted in between gasps of air. "You should have shot him… while you had the… chance! Now we lost him!"

Rodney looked surprised. "What are you saying? He's right there!" He motioned at the prone young man.

"No," Another villager said. "That's not him."

Beckett stirred. John knelt down beside him. "You ok?" he asked. "You took a nasty hit."

"I'm fine," his voice sounded strange. "Great, in fact!" Beckett's Scottish accent had vanished. He looked at the seething villagers. "Lost me!" He laughed.

One of the villagers lunged for him. John grabbed the guy and held him. "What do you think you're doing? HE'S the one you want!" motioning to the young man still on the ground.

"No," said the man, shoving Sheppard off. "Not any more he ain't."

John let him go. "What are you talking about?"

The boy sat up. "John? What in the bloody world is going on?" he said.

John froze. "How do you know my name?"

"Well that's a nice thing to say!" the boy said, in a Scottish accent. "No, 'Are you ok?' or, 'Are you hurt?' Just, 'How do you know my name?' As if you've forgotten all the years we spent together!"

John stepped back, and Rodney groaned, "Don't tell me this is…"

John tapped his earpiece. "Teyla, come in." he said.

A moment later her voice came over the speaker. "Go ahead, John. Is something wrong?"

Sheppard hesitated. "I think we found our body-switcher."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

3 hours later, John, Rodney, Ronan, Teyla, and Mr. Richard Woolsey were standing on the observation platform of the medical isolation room. Both Dr. Beckett and the kid were on medical tables being scanned by doctors in full HazMat suits.

Woolsey turned to John. "So let me get this straight, this young man was being chased by the villagers. You decided to catch him. He just slammed into Dr. Beckett, and this happened?" he said.

John shrugged. "More or less."

Mr. Woolsey shook his head. "Must I remind you that we are in the Pegasus Galaxy? Just because someone looks like a normal teenage boy running because he stole an apple, doesn't mean that he is. You of all people should know that!"

John said nothing. Mr. Woolsey sighed and turned back to the window. Dr. Keller looked up at them.

"I've run just about every test that we have," she said over the intercom. "These first scans show them both completely healthy."

"Good," Mr. Woolsey said. "But are they safe?"

Keller shrugged. "We can't be sure. I suggest that we keep them isolated for the next few hours to see if anything pops up while I run this information through the Ancient database."

Woolsey nodded. "Do it," he said.

Keller nodded back. She issued some instructions to the others, and then left with a tablet containing the information.

John turned to Mr. Woolsey. "Can we talk to them?" he asked.

Woolsey frowned. "Officially, I'd have to tell you no. But personally, I'm rather curious about what that young man has to say for himself."

Rodney stepped in. "Whoa, are you sure that that's a good idea?" he said. "Going into that little room with that guy? He may jump us, and use us to escape."

"No he won't," Ronan said, priming his gun.

"Just make sure that it's set for stun," John said. And the group headed to the isolation room.

As the door slid open, the two patients and the doctors turned their heads toward the visitors.

"We need a moment please," said Mr. Woolsey. The doctors nodded and left the room, the door sealing behind them with a hiss and resolute "thunk".

The kid, who apparently was Beckett, stood up and walked toward them.

"Finally," he said, "it's about bloody time! Can I get some answers here?"

"As far as we can tell," John said, "well, your body's been snatched."

"I can see that, thank you very much," Beckett said, his voice rising. "But how did it happen? That's what I want to know."

"Why don't we ask him?" John said, motioning toward Beckett's body that now seemed to be inhabited by the young man.

The guy smirked. "My name is Riddick, if you want to know. And about the body-switching deal, I'm as clueless as you are. As far as I know, all I have to do is look at a person and touch them, then I've got a new body."

Mr. Woolsey stepped in. "How long have you been like this?" He asked.

"For about a year, I think," the guy, Riddick, said. "It started when me and a few pals were exploring a cave outside our village. We found it about a week before that, and we were planning on looking around inside it, but the Festival of Ha'tuthar was starting and we had to wait, as is custom, for the end of the festivities."

"Yes, could you please hurry up?" Rodney interrupted.

"Just wait a sec," Riddick said, "I'm almost to the part where you care."

John smiled. "I like this guy." He said to Woolsey.

Riddick continued. "So after the festival ended, me and the guys were looking around in the cave when we found this well. The sides were made of rock, but it wasn't natural rock. It was like someone took the stone and formed it to make the well. It was REALLY weird."

"We have something like that back where we come from," Mr. Woolsey said. "We call it concrete. Please continue."

"So after finding this well," the kid went on, "I wanted to see what was at the bottom. We went back to the village and got some rope, and I had the boys lower me down. The only problem was that the well was a lot deeper than I had first thought. The rope stopped about 10 feet above the bottom, and I was just hanging there. I was just getting ready to climb back up when the rope started to break. I frantically tried to climb as my friends started to pull, but the rope broke and I fell to the bottom of the well. My friends went back to the village for a longer rope after tossing me a torch and I was just left standing at the bottom. I looked around and saw that there was a tunnel that led off of the main shaft, and, having nothing better to do, I explored it. After walking for maybe two minutes, I came into this room. I didn't see anything at first, but then suddenly something started humming, and the whole room lit up. It was filled with all kinds of weird tables, and windows that hung from the roof and showed strange pictures."

Rodney jumped. "What did the tables look like?" he asked frantically. "Were they metal, square-ish? Or were they organic- looking, like they were grown?"

Riddick didn't hesitate. "Square-ish, and blue, green, and red. They had lots of little shiny knobs on them."

Rodney sighed with relief. He turned to Mr. Woolsey. "It's an Ancient research lab! We need to find this place! I mean, who knows what else we could discover besides this!"

"Let's let the kid finish his story first," John said.

Rodney stepped back with a smile on his face, thinking about all of the information that the lab could hold.

"Like I was saying," Riddick continued, "I was in this weird room with lots of shiny knobs and buttons in it. As I was walking around, more things were lighting up, and then this one little step was lit brighter than the rest. In front of the step there was this really big window that had lots of little dots moving on it. I got up on the step, and then this light started shining on the table in front of me, but this light was a LOT brighter than the other dots. I reached out and touched it, and suddenly, all this light came out of the roof and surrounded me. After that, and a bunch of freak accidents, was when I discovered this ability."

Rodney looked up, alarmed this time. "That sounds exactly like an Ancient ascension machine! We HAVE to find that thing now! If the Wraith find it, who knows what kind of damage they could do!"

Mr. Woolsey turned to Rodney. "You mean it's a machine like the one that you found here in Atlantis?"

"Yes. For a little while it gave me super-powers," Rodney grinned, relishing the memory.

John grimaced. "While I got turned into a bug," he muttered.

"But didn't that thing almost kill you?" Mr. Woolsey asked.

Rodney's smile faded. "Yes. At the time we thought we had found the device that would help us kill Michael and defeat the Wraith."

"Whoa! Wait!" Riddick jumped off of the table. "Did you say that that thing almost killed you! Could I be dying as we speak!"

"Settle down," Beckett said, gently putting a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Dr. Keller said that your scan came up clean."

"How can you know that?" Riddick asked, apprehensive and calming only a little.

"We modified our scanner after Rodney's encounter with the machine that is here in Atlantis," Dr. Beckett said. "We thought that if the Ancients, or the Ancestors as you call them, built one machine here then they probably built at least one more somewhere out in the galaxy."

Rodney looked miffed. "This is the first I've heard anything about this! Why wasn't I told?"

"If you'd pay more attention in some of our weekly meetings then you might learn a few things," John said, pointedly.

Riddick slowly got back up onto the examining table. "Who's this Michael-guy? I know the Wraith. Who doesn't? I even used my little skill to escape them once, but I've never heard of a Michael."

"Michael was a Wraith that we captured several years ago and turned into a human." Mr. Woolsey said.

Riddick's eyes turned into dinner plates. "You guys can DO that!"

Rodney chuckled grimly. "We thought we could. But during Michael's stay he turned back into a Wraith and escaped. He went back and forth a few times, then stopped somewhere in between. A sort of Wraith/Human hybrid."

"He was also the guy who started that plague that affected most of the galaxy." John said.

"So that was him." Riddick said, his voice growing cold. "I left my village to protect my family and friends from accidentally switching places with me. I didn't know what the full extent of my "infection", or whatever this is, was. They didn't want me to leave, but I did anyway. I came back a few months later to visit, and found that everyone, including my family, had either died or left because of that plague."

"I'm very sorry for your loss." Mr. Woolsey said, his voice soft.

"Since you guys seem to be so chummy with this Michael, can you tell me where he is so that I can rip his heart out?" Riddick asked.

"He's already dead." Ronan said. "He invaded this city a little while ago, and we got him. I would have liked to have done it myself, but I was knocked out."

The kid sighed. "I wish I could have been there, but thanks anyway."

"You can thank Teyla for that," John said, nodding to her. "Keep talking."

It was odd seeing Carson's body acting like a teenager, and even stranger hearing his voice sound almost opposite of what it was supposed to be. But then, so was seeing the body of some teenager walking, talking, and behaving like Beckett. John sighed inwardly. Just another day in outer space, he thought.

"So after that, I just wandered the galaxy," Riddick continued. "I dialed the gate addresses of friendly planets that I knew, and got addresses to different ones from there."

"Wait a moment," Mr. Woolsey interrupted. "You said a moment ago that you used your… gift, shall we say… to escape the Wraith? How did you get into that situation?"

Riddick grimaced. "I had gotten into a little bit of trouble in a village that I had stopped at to buy supplies. The villagers chased me to the gate, and I barely had time to dial the first address I could think of when they were on me. What I didn't remember was that the address was one that I had been told not to use. Some brave men from my village traveled the galaxy, hunting for Wraith scouting posts and bases. In my time they only found one, and all of us children had to memorize the address so that we would never go there. In my panic, that was the only address that I remembered, but I forgot that it was the Wraith address. Seconds after I had stepped through, the sentries that were on guard gunned me down and I guess I was brought to a cell. To make a long story short, after a day or two in the cell, I managed to switch bodies with one of the Wraith. Luckily for me, he turned out to be one of the big men upstairs. I opened my cell door, and shot the Wraith that was now in my body. He apparently was still woozy. Basically, I told the other Wraith that I was going to feed on myself, and then dispose of the body. I just walked out, switched back, killed the guy, and left."

Mr. Woolsey looked impressed. "Very remarkable, I must say."

"So how did you end up being chased by those villagers when we met you?" John asked.

"I had stopped there to resupply, and when I told that story, all the villagers thought that the Wraith were after me as a result of my little adventure. So they kicked me out." Riddick said. "I really needed supplies though, so I decided to try and sneak back in during the night to swipe what I needed. Then I got caught. I tried to switch bodies with another guy to confuse them, but they got me anyway and made me switch back. Then they threw me in jail."

"That must have been when they called us," Rodney said. "No wonder they sounded so freaked out on the radio. They probably have never seen anything like this before!"

"How did you escape?" Mr. Woolsey asked.

"Well, the morning that you guys came and found me," Riddick said, "A new guy was guarding my cell. He was only told not to go near me because I would steal his body. The guy had been drinking during the night, so he had become a little desensitized to what he already thought was bogus. I told him that I was thirsty, and when he brought me a cup of water I grabbed his arm and switched. I quickly grabbed the keys and unlocked the cell. I switched back and locked the guy in the cell, then I ran out the back. They must have found him pretty quickly, because while I was making my getaway, they sounded the alarm and came after me. The rest is history."

Mr. Woolsey shook his head. "Truly remarkable."

Beckett sighed. "Yes, great story. But can I have my body back now?"

Rodney snorted, trying to hide a laugh.

Beckett turned on him. "You think this is funny! After what happened between us and Lt. Cadman, you think this is funny!"

Rodney groaned and clutched his head. "Aww! I thought we said we wouldn't talk about this anymore!"

"Yes," Mr. Woolsey interrupted. "Let's see about getting you two back into your proper bodies so that we can get you home, young man. Is it possible to just have you go ahead and switch back right now? Just do what you did before?"

"Well," Riddick said hesitantly, as if he was distracted. "It varies. Sometimes I've been able to do it instantly, other times, it's taken me a few hours to one or two days."

Beckett sighed. "Just lovely. So you're tellin' me that I could be stuck in here for a few days!"

"Maybe, maybe not. I'll just have to try to switch back."

"OK, then. Go ahead." Beckett stepped back into the middle of the room as the kid jumped down off of the table.

"Here we go," Riddick said. Then he stared at Beckett hard for a few seconds, then he ran and slammed into the doctor as hard as he could. Both fell to the floor. Rodney and John both jumped down to help them up.

John supported Beckett's body. "You OK, Doc?"

Beckett glanced around and then slumped. "Crap," he muttered.

The kid's body got up shakily, and said, "Great, now I'm stuck in here!" with a Scottish accent.

Rodney glanced between the two of them. "What? It didn't work!"

Beckett, still in Riddick's body, looked at McKay. "No it didn't, Rodney. Now I don't suppose you'd mind helpin' us figure this out so's I don't have to go through puberty for a second time!"

"Hey!" Shouted Riddick, incredulously.

"I'm sorry!" Beckett cried. "But the age that your body is at brings back too many memories. And too many of those aren't very good ones."

"Settle down, people!" John interjected. "We'll just have Keller put you two back under a scanner, do some more tests, and get everybody back to normal."

Nobody saw Riddick grimace.

Just then, Dr. Keller walked back in, stopping short as she looked up, surprised.

"Did I miss something?" She asked.

"Just me getting' blown away by that young man trying to get switched back to our proper bodies." Beckett said.

Jennifer rushed forward, checking both patients.

"I REALLY wish you hadn't done that!" She said forcefully. "I have preliminary results from the tests that say you should be OK, but I still wish we could have waited before you all go crashing about."

"What do the results show exactly?" Mr. Woolsey asked.

"Well," Dr. Keller retrieved her tablet from the floor where she had dropped it, "The cross-reference of the Ancient database brought up something about some tests on the subject that our old friend Janis was carrying out. It was before his research into the Atero Device or time-travel. He was apparently trying to investigate advanced ways to infiltrate Wraith hives. When the council found out about it, they shut him down, of course. But, as we just found out, he never actually destroyed the facility."

"Big surprise there!" Rodney said sarcastically. "Who knows what other facilities Janis could have left around?"

"As far as the Ancient database is concerned, the ones that we know of are the only projects that he had."

John snorted. "Like we can believe that."

"And the medical tests show that both of you are in perfect physical health. I have no problems with you all leaving isolation, but you have the final word on that subject, Mr. Woolsey," Dr. Keller concluded.

"I see nothing wrong with that," Mr. Woolsey, "Just be careful around the other people here in the city. And I'd like to keep the whole switched-body business as quiet as possible."

"And check in with me every few hours," Jennifer added.

"I've heard stories about the city of the Ancestors," Riddick said, tentatively. "Can I look around?"

"Certainly," Mr. Woolsey said, warmly. "John, why don't you and Doctors McKay and Beckett give our guest the grand tour?"

"Oh, no. I really can't," Rodney said. "I'm busy enough with Janis' first lab here in the city. I really can't play tour guide today."

"Oh, come on, Rodney," John said with a smirk, "This'll be good for you. We all know how you are with kids."

McKay grimaced. "That's one trait I would rather not have."

"It's either that or you can spend some quality time at the training room with me," Ronan said. "I need a sparring partner."

Rodney's eyes widened. "Oh… uh… I think I'll go with, uh, them."

As Rodney hurried out of the room, Ronan and John shared a smile. "Why don't we follow Rodney," John said to Riddick and Beckett. "It's a lot more interesting out there, kid."

The group left.

After they were out of sight, Mr. Woolsey turned to Dr. Keller. "The young man seems normal enough, what do you think of him?"

Jennifer nodded. "Seems like your average 18-year-old guy."

"Just to be safe, though, would you mind going with Teyla back to his village to validate his story, and maybe one or two other places that he claims to have been?" Mr. Woolsey asked.

"I don't mind at all."

"Good, get started on that as soon as you can."

"I just have one other appointment and then I can leave."

"Very well then, safe travels to you," Mr. Woolsey said.


End file.
